Healing Isn’t a Solo Journey — It’s a Bridge We Cross Together
- maryrburrell
- Oct 21, 2025
- 3 min read
When One Patient Reaches Out, We All Learn Something
There’s something about walking beside another patient that opens your eyes all over again.Recently, a woman reached out to me with questions about navigating her tricuspid valve journey. She’d been told she had severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) a diagnosis that comes with fear, fatigue, and the hope that maybe, finally, there’s a path toward treatment.
Then came the confusion. A later test downgraded her to “trace,” even though she was still clearly symptomatic.
At first, I’ll be honest it was easy to assume maybe the doctor had missed something. When results swing that fast, our minds go straight to “They must have made a mistake.” But I learned the truth is more complicated. This isn’t about one doctor getting it wrong. It’s about a system that doesn’t yet know how to measure this disease consistently, one that leaves patients stuck in the middle.
Because of that “no trace” report, she was denied eligibility for a clinical study that could have helped her. On paper, she didn’t qualify. But in reality, her body was still struggling swollen legs, shortness of breath, and that deep fatigue only TR patients truly understand.
It’s a painful reminder that numbers and labels don’t always tell the full story.
The Forgotten Valve
The tricuspid valve is often called “the forgotten valve.” It doesn’t get the same attention or research as the mitral or aortic valves, and that shows up in how patients are treated.
📊 Understanding the Grades
When doctors grade tricuspid regurgitation, they’re measuring how much blood leaks backward through the valve each time the heart beats.
Mild means there’s only a small leak.
Moderate means more blood is leaking back than normal.
Severe or Torrential means a large amount of blood is leaking often enough to cause swelling, fatigue, or shortness of breath.
No trace means the test shows little or no backward flow.
Here’s the thing — those grades can shift. They might look different depending on how much fluid your body’s holding, what kind of heart test you have (like a chest echo or one done down your throat), or even the angle of the camera during the test!
So, a patient can go from severe → moderate → no trace in just a few months and not because her heart truly healed, but because the imaging told three different versions of the same story.
❤️🩹 When treatment or trial eligibility depends on those numbers, inconsistent testing becomes a barrier to care. That’s not a patient problem, that’s a system problem.
The Power of Asking “Why”
Through her experience, I was reminded that no patient should ever be afraid to ask why.
Why did my test results change?
Why was I denied?
Why can’t I get a second opinion?
She didn’t stop asking and that’s where advocacy begins. Her courage pushed me to dig deeper, to reach out to my contacts, and to learn more about how TR imaging is interpreted and used to determine eligibility.
What I learned was this: the data isn’t always the truth of how a patient feels.A test can say “normal,” but the patient’s body may be shouting otherwise.
What True Support Looks Like
Supporting another patient isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about listening first, researching second, and responding with empathy.
Sometimes what patients need most isn’t a new test, it’s someone who believes them when they say, “Something’s still wrong.”
Because when your test says “no trace” but your body says otherwise, it can make you question your own reality.
That’s what #HeartBridgeCollective is all about building bridges between patients, doctors, engineers, and the data, so stories like this aren’t dismissed or lost in translation.
Final Reflection
Every time I support another patient, I learn something new about myself too.I’m reminded that our voices matter, even when systems make us feel small.And I’m reminded that when one person reaches out for help, they create a ripple that teaches us all.
Because at the end of the day, we’re not just patients navigating medical jargon, we’re humans trying to find hope through it.
💡 Patient Lesson: Don’t Let One Test Define Your Story
If your symptoms don’t match your results, keep asking questions.Ask for copies of your imaging, get a second opinion, and trust what your body is telling you!
You deserve care that listens, not care that only reads numbers.
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